Chinese National Club (CNC) was beaten by the Angolan side Agosto Luanda in the final of this year’s IHF Women's Super Globe final in Wuxi in southern Jiangsu province in China. The home team and co-hosts went down fighting after an inspirational display by the African club, who clinched the title with an emphatic 27-22 victory on Sunday. 

Even though they had the advantage of playing in front of a partisan home crowd, China's hot favorites had to settle for the silver medal after Liu Xiaomei, the team's driving force, went down with an injury and missed the all-important final. 

The underdog African club came all guns blazing and stormed into an early 6-3 lead. Things turned from bad to worse early in the game for the home side when experienced Liu, who participated in four Asian Games, fell down and got injured. The veteran limped off the court on crutches as the CNC were trailing by three points at the end of the first half.

In the second half, the CNC stepped their attack in order to claw their way back in the game, reducing the gap to four goals at 21-24, thanks to a goal from Hai Xia Zhang.

But the enterprising Angolans bolstered their defense and hung on to their lead for the rest of the game. With just over 60 seconds remaining on the clock, it was captain Albertina Kassoma, who emphatically secured a five-goal lead that her side retained until the final whistle was blown. 

An unstoppable Helena Gilda Simao Paulo, who slotted in the opening goal for the Angolans off a breakthrough shot, went on to reach a huge tally of 10 goals overall. Her potent pairing with Cristiane Mwasesa, with seven goals, wreaked havoc on the CNC defense and sunk the home team. 

This premier handball tournament is made up of a slew of leading club sides from different continents with hosts China fielding two teams – the CNC and Jiangsu team.